Railway stamp explained

In philately a railway stamp is a stamp issued to pay the cost of the conveyance of a letter or parcel by rail.

A wide variety of railway stamps have been issued by different countries and by private and state railways. Railway stamps of an unofficial or semi-official type are considered cinderella stamps.

The first railway stamp was issued in England in 1846 for parcels^[1] and Belgium has issued railway stamps since 1879.^[2]

From 1891 British mainline railway companies issued railway letter stamps for the conveyance of letters by rail, although that service has now ceased apart from on some small tourist lines.^[3]

Railway stamps of Denmark

One of the countries that issued a lot of different railway stamps was Denmark. They were not only issued by Danske Statsbaner (Danish State Railways), but also by many local railway companies like Gribskovbanen (GDS), Hads-Ning Herreders Jernbane (HHJ) and Odsherreds Jernbane (OHJ).^[4]

See also

• Parcel stamp
• Turner Collection of Railway Letter Stamps

Further reading

• Book: Ewen, Herbert L'Estrange. Herbert L'Estrange Ewen

. Herbert L'Estrange Ewen. Railway Newspaper and Parcel Stamps of the United Kingdom. Ewen’s Colonial Stamp Market Ltd.. 1906 . (Reprint, 1983 by Tim Clutterbuck & Co.)

• Book: Jackson, H.T.. The Railway and Airway Letter Stamps of the British Isles, 1891-1971. Harry Hayes. 1979. 0-905222-37-7 .
• Web site: Miller . Adam . New Zealand Railway Charges stamps 1925–1959 . 2021 . 78rpm.net.nz. . https://web.archive.org/web/20211230212241/http://78rpm.net.nz/couriers/NZR/New%20Zealand%20Railway%20Charges%20stamps%20ebook.pdf . 30 December 2021.

External links

• Australia and New Zealand Railway Parcel Stamps.
• Talyllyn Railway, a Welsh private railway letter service.
• Cleator & Workington Junction Railway Postage Stamp.
• The Railway Philatelic Group
• Railway Newspaper and Parcel Stamps (1899) Archived here.

Notes and References

1. Book: Mackay, James. Philatelic Terms Illustrated. 4th. Stanley Gibbons. London. 2003. 121. 0-85259-557-3 .
2. Book: Patrick, Douglas & Mary. The Hodder Stamp Dictionary. Hodder & Stoughton. London. 1973. 201. 0-340-17183-9 .
3. Book: Sutton. R.J.. Anthony. K.W.. The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia. Stanley Paul. London. 1966. 251 .
4. Web site: Denmark: Railway Letter & Parcel Stamps Introduction . Paper Heritage . 2019-11-17. The listing is based on the DFBK Catalogue 2011 (DFBK: Dansk Fragt- og Banemaerkeklub).